Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some Quick First Impressions: Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, Ookiku Furikabutte – Natsu no Taikai-Hen and Kaichou wa Maid Sama

by psgels, posted in Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Ookiku Furikabutte, Some Quick First Impressions

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a teenaged future demon lord.
Again: better than expected. On one hand we have horrid character-designs, some of the most pointless fanservice I’ve seen this season (seriously… why?) and an entire cast of teenaged mages. On the other hand, it’s quite well animated actually plays around with the tropes of its genre. Generic male leads often get confused into pointless misunderstandings. This show takes these to the ridiculous, and plays around with their irony. It actually made me laugh a few times. But yeah: this has the consequence that everyone in this series is a complete moron and just acts how the plot demands it. The jokes also often just fall flat, and are trying too hard. The classroom scene was hilarious. The peeping scene was horribly dull and predictable.
ED: Boring J-Rock
Potential: 40%

Ookiku Furikabutte – Natsu no Taikai-hen

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters continue to participate in the regional baseball tournament.
When comparing to Cross Game, it’s perhaps a bit hard to see, but Ookiku Furikabutte also has truly excellent slice of life, though in a completely different way. This episode showed that more than ever. The creators really managed to show all of the characters as they are, with inspired dialogue as they analyze and talk about the previous and next matches that they’re involved into. On top of that, it turns out that it had no intention to just forget past characters: the opposing team whose match filled the majority of the first season returns in this episode as well, in which we see two of its members (the captain and that first year that never got to participate in the match) deal with what happened at the climax of the first season. A-1 show that they can very much animate three series at the same time with some excellent animation that may not be the smoothest, but is really well directed and inspired, bringing the characters to life. This second season is looking very promising at this point.
OP: Decent enough J-Rock
ED: A bit of a boring song.
Potential: 90%

Kaichou wa Maid Sama

Short Synopsis: Our lead character
works at a maid cafe.
Romantic comedies are one of my least favourite genres in anime. But in this season, they’re either really bad or really good. My favourite opening episodes so far are from those romantic comedies. Again, Kaichou wa Maid Sama has elements that have been beaten to death in attempts to pander to otaku. And yet it gives a fresh look at the genre with well written dialogue and characters. Like B Gata H Kei, the creators really know their characters, and this episode did a great job of not just establishing the characters, but also exploring who they are, what drives them and a bit about their pasts, already slightly developing them. The lead character suddenly feeling ill was a bit forced I guess, but the rest of this episode was a delight to watch.
OP: Nice animation, decent song.
ED: Boring J-rock.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: B Gata H Kei, Heroman and Marie&Gali 2.0

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

B Gata H Kei

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to have sex with 100 men.
Look. Those who know this blog know that I often talk down on fanservice and moe series. I do not do that for the sake of fanservice. However, it’s more because shows that have lots of it tend to be really cheaply written without any depth whatsoever, and have a type of comedy that I don’t find funny at all. There really are too many of these things! Yet, when a fanservice series comes around that’s actually good… then who am I to complain? Really, B Gata H Kei is indeed full of fanservice. It has a lot of boobs, along with your typical male lead character. It also however, had the best opening episode I have ever seen of a shounen romantic comedy (and seriously, that has to be the most densely populated genre in anime out there). What made this episode so awesome was that even for a romantic comedy, it was surprisingly clever. It was full of a ton of witty jokes about the two lead characters. The dialogue really made this episode and you can really see that the creators have understood the characters they’re working with. Rather than just inserting random panty-shots, the creators really play with their premise, making for a hilarious episode.
OP: Well, decent enough for J-Pop
ED: Again, decent enough.
Potential: 80%
(Yes, this is the fifth year that I’ve been doing these first impressions. And yes, I have never given a fanservice show such a high rating before. I really hope that it continues to be as good as this episode.)

Heroman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character finds his own giant robot in the trash.
Yeah, so it’s no surprise that the first episode of Heroman would be a rather bad one. The lead character starts out as even more of a wimp than your average lead character (nerd: check. Unpopular: check. A cute girl is in love with him: check. Really high-pitched voice: um, check?). The bullies and popular kids also were just… bad. This episode was clearly rushed and not as solid as we’ve come to expect from Bones’ opening episodes. My least favourite part was probably the part at which the hero’s romantic love interest just ‘happened’ to end up in a car crash accident (of course without any scratch whatsoever other than unconsciousness), right when the titular Heroman makes his appearance. Whether this show is going to be good or not is very hard to determine at this point, because the scenes in which Heroman starred were actually interesting enough, and had some potential, confirming even more that this series works best as an action series. And that’s the biggest potential pitfall of this series: there was surprisingly little action there. What if the rest of the series is also going to drag on like this episode did?
OP: Boring J-rock.
ED: Interesting style.
Potential: 40%

Marie&Gali 2.0

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is forced back to this series.
I’m really glad to see that this awesome series has made it to a second season. This episode was a bit low on the science, but that’s understandable since it was meant to introduce the premise of the new season, and introduce the new kid. The show still has its wonderful sense of timing that made the first season such a wonderful comedy. You can also see that the creators have taken a lot more liberties with Marika as well: she’s no longer the deadpan straight man she once was, but she also manages to keep the balls high. The new girl has this strange posh accent that moe series often like to abuse (seriously, do people actually talk like that in Japan?), but she has potential to be hilarious. The animation wasn’t as solid as it used to be, though. It’s still very creative, but the characters’ faces were a bit too often rushed.
OP: Um yeah, a rather annoying J-pop, but it’s not like the first OP was good either.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: KissXSis, Koihime Musou – Otome Tairan and Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

KissXSis

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live inside a house with two cute girls who pretend to be his sister.
Well… it’s porn. It’s as simple as that. Are people really going to check this show out for a reason other than the teenaged nudity? At the least, I do appreciate that the worst stuff in this season comes first. And yeah, this episode was pretty much even worse than the other shows in this post, and that has to say something. It’s full of the most ridiculous stereotypes that just about every fanservice show has. It’s been one episode and the lead character already has a harem of four girls who adore him for no reason whatsoever. These characters seriously have no lives. It did try to out-gross other fanservice shows with the pants sniffing and all, but seriously. With Chu Bra and Seikon no Qwaser last season, who’s it going to fool?
ED: Godawful J-pop and abysmal CG.
Potential: -20%

Koihime Musou Otome Tairan

Short Synopsis: Our lead character goes on an adventure to search for a bunch of random items to save some random woman.
Again: Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Again: find some other bloody novel to parody! In any case, the third season of Koihime Musou is exactly what this series has always been: realyl stupid slice of life. And seriously, these morons really take the cake when it comes to a lack of brainpower as they believe that someone with stomach cramps as pregnant. Well, i guess that stupid girls are really popular with otaku, which is why these kinds of shows keep getting made, and if this is your kind of humour, then good for you. but this episode felt so unbelievably boring to me. Slice of life series are great when the characters themselves are. With these stereotypical idiots however… ugh.
OP: Cheesy J-Rock
ED: Godawful J-pop.
Potential: 0%

Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor

Short Synopsis: Our lead character thankfully is completely absent in this episode.
Well, I’m at least glad that the worst shows of this season get released first, so let’s just get this over with. The only thing I’ve seen of Ikkitousen are the first episodes of the second and third season (both were godawful), so most of my comments here are about the execution, rather than the story that I know nothing about. Still, I do want to say that the thing I hate most about this season isn’t the fanservice or moe, but the truckload of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Seriously, pick some other franchise to parody. In any case, for Ikkitousen this was actually a decent episode. I expected the same kind of crap that the previous seasons became infamous for, and while the acting still is pretty bad, this actually was an episode in which you can at least shut your brains off and enjoy it as a random action show. The build-up was nice enough, and the lead characters this time thankfully were much less obnoxious as some of the other paper bags that this show has to work with. Nevertheless, the standards to which I’m comparing this are really low. This episode wasn’t abysmal, but one third of it was recap, the jokes were corny at best and the non-action scenes were pretty cheesy. Also, are these men really supposed to be high school students? I mean, how many grades did these punks repeat anyway?
ED: Boring J-Rock
Potential: 5%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hipira-Kun and Working!!

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Hipira-Kun

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the prince of vampires!
This is another one for the people who like the kids’ stuff, but it’s surprisingly well made. I originally didn’t give it a chance because… yeah. It’s a kids’ show about vampires. Prior to the past season, kids shows were nearly all somewhat mediocre. The art direction for Hipira-kun kicks ass, though. It may be entirely in 3D, but the creators did really well in making it look cool. The direction is also very dynamic, where you’ll often see lots of things happen at the same time. Episodes are only five minutes long, so it’s not really a big commitment to watch this either. Interestingly, it’s created by the same guy who did Deathtic 4 of Genius Party. To be honest, I enjoyed this episode more, although the story is still rather silly.
Potential: 50%

Working!!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts working at a restaurant with strange people in it.
To be honest, the first show to debut this spring season is a disappointment. I was looking forward to this series because it promised to be another mature slice of life series that focuses on actual adults… and yet the main characters turn out to be teenagers. The lead female was too much of a complete moron in this episode, and the main character can’t seem to decide whether he wants to play the straight man or not. The biggest problem with this first episode however was that most of the characters rely too much on their quirks for their characterizations. Especially that incredibly shy girl who hits men was way too exaggerated.
ED: Meh, another one of those obnoxious J-pop songs.
Potential: 30%

Some Quick First Impressions: Heart Catch Precure

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Heart Catch Precure

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the umpth incarnation of the legendary mahou shoujo.
Holy crap! Pretty Cure has always been a franchise of cheap mahou shoujo series; that’s why I initially dismissed this series. But oh my god. This episode was just awesome: it was everything a mahou shoujo should be! Just one look at that opening scene should tell enough: the utterly gorgeous character-designs, the animation, the music and the tension. Everything was just wonderfully done in this episode. The humour was really funny and adorable. But the best part were the facial expressions: just look at how many different and expressive emotions they managed to convey in just one episode! Seriously, this episode took me by an utter surprise. The question now is: does it also have a good plan for the next 49 episodes. Precure has been… notorious for its repetition, however if it’s really the intention of the creators to finally come up with a good series, then I’m in!
OP: Fun and catchy.
ED: The ugliest part of this show.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: Nodame Cantabile – Finale

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Nodame Cantabile – Finale

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is studying hard.
Well, the big question with this series is of course: is it going to recapture the magic of the stellar first season, or is it simply going to turn into a nice though uneventful romantic comedy of the second season. The big problem here is Chiaki Kon, as she’s well on her way to become Shinbo II in the way that she’s been directing way too many series for the past two years. This episode started off pretty nice, setting up the premise for this season: Nodame getting her own concert. It’s about time for her to really develop, though, because I’m starting to get annoyed with her antics.
OP: Decent, but not very impressive.
ED: A quiet ballad, but again nothing special.
Potential: 60%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hanamaru Yochien, Seikon no Qwaser and Kaito Reinya

by psgels, posted in Hanamaru Youchien, Some Quick First Impressions

Haramaru Yochien

Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts his new job at a kindergarten for moeblobs.
First, let me say this: this show rocks for having absolutely no teenagers in them! It only focuses on young adults and 4-year-old kids, while teenagers only appear in a few flashbacks. Aside from that, it was a bit of a strange series; the best way to describe it would be a cross between Potemayo and Kodomo no Jikan. It has the moeblobs from Potemayo if they were to 3 years older, and it has a similar teacher to Kodomo no Jikan, even including a similar love-interest of his. The biggest problem with this sereis is obviously that most of the characters are too one-sided or stereotypical, but it does work. This episode was enjoyable slice of life. I especially enjoyed those small scenes after school. What this series needs to do is to somehow remain as light-hearted and enjoyable as it was here, not repeat itself too much, and flesh out the cast beyond the stereotypes that we’ve seen so far. If it’s going to focus on the romance, then I hope for something similar to Yume de Aetara (the OVA, not the TV-series. By GOD, not the TV-series).
ED: This is why voice actresses that pretend to be little kids should never sing.
Potential: 50%

Seikon no Qwaser

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to protect her seemingly retarded sister as much as possible.
Ugh… that sister. What a horrible voice actress she received. Just about everything about her is annoying. Apart from that, this episode was decent. There’s potential for a decent action-series, although the direction was flawed at times (one moment the camera pans across a classroom, and the next shot from out of nowhere a girl with a ridiculous pink hairstyle just appears). About half the cast is interesting, while the rest of the cast are just dull stereotypes with a one-sided personality. The lead character herself is decent, but has a nasty tendency to overact. For this series to work, it’s really going to have to put in effort to correctly pace its storyline, and not waste time on pointless beach, hot spring and pool episodes.
OP:
ED: What was the mindset the creators were in when they came up with these visuals?
Potential: 30%

Kaito Reinya

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a phantom thief in the city with the most incompetent police.
There’s an art to making a good comedy: actually making it FUNNY. That’s something that Kaito Reinya completely fails at. It’s full of corny and overused jokes, the slapstick with the mouse is so bad that it becomes horrible, and the constant references to phantom thieves are uninspired at best. I guess that this series’ selling poing is that it’s fully animated in flash, but even that looks lazy: Hanoka, which was produced three years earlier, looked much better than this uninspired… thing.
OP: Obnoxious explanation of the premise of the show.
ED: Not really an ED, more like just a credit role.
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: Ookami Kakushi, Dance in the Vampire Bund and Omamori Himari

by psgels, posted in Ookami Kakushi, Some Quick First Impressions

Ookami Kakushi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character moves into a new town and immediately gets himself a new girlfriend.
Yeah, the thing with this season is that just about every show has some sort of overused anime cliche, even the good ones. In any case, the best way to describe this episode was: intriguing. It was basically mostly introductory with a lot of slice of life and a few hints here and there that the town that the main character moved into is screwed up. It’s very promising, the characters are very moeified, but it’s not like they’re stereotypes and they’ve got potential to grow and develop. It also has the best soundtrack I’ve heard so far this season. Now, the question is mostly going to be: is it the creators’ intention to fully animate this story, or are they just going to stop in the middle?
OP: Yuki Kajiura delivers one of the best OPs of the new season.
ED: Pretty decent ballad.
Potential: 70%%

Dance in the Vampire Bund

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the leader of the Vampires. And a little girl.
The biggest problem with this series is of course going to be Shinbo: is he going to be able to adapt this story properly, or is he just going to repeat himself and focus on the complete wrong parts of the story? I remember the last time he tried to do a series with a little girl who was a vampire (Tsukuyomi Moonphase), which turned out to be a pain to sit through. Though granted, this episode gave a much better first impression. There’s no way to measure it up to the rest of the series, because it was clearly an introductory episode, but let me say the following: if the rest of the episodes are going to be as interesting as this episode, then we’ve got ourselves a success. The TV-program about the existence of vampires was a nice touch, but none of the main characters really got a lot of screentime.
ED: Boring J-rock.
Potential: 50%

Omamori Himari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be protected by a hot chick.
Now this is really is one of those shows that I’d label as terrible. A few cliches here and there doesn’t usually hurt, but when a series packs a ton of cliches EVERY… SINGLE… MINUTE… then it becomes a huge problem. This series rips off just about everything in this episode from other harem shows. The cat allergy? Hello, Nyan Koi. The hot chick with mysterious powers that suddenly protects the lead characters? How often haven’t we seen that one before? The childhood friend who is in love with the lead character and wakes him up in the morning? Come on, please. Probably the most blatant part is the set of character-designs that it shamelessly ripped off 11Eyes: did it seriously think to get away with the lead character, who looks like a more energetic Yuka with only a different hair and eye colour? And how about that teacher, who also looks EXACTLY the same aside from her hair and eye colours? For the most part of this season, I’m being more lenient than usual because how week it’d otherwise become, but this is just nothing. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before taken to the extreme, the build-up is abysmal. Only go for this one if you’re a hardcore romantic comedy fan or just like to see boobs or panty-shots.
ED: Obnoxious J-pop. Blegh.
Potential: 0%%

Some quick First Impressions: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Durarara!!, Gag Manga Biyori +

by psgels, posted in Durarara, Some Quick First Impressions

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an idiot and the smartest girl in school is in love with him.
I have to admit: when this episode started with the lead female who kept having what sounded like orgasms until she fainted, I didn’t have much faith. But what do you know, it turned out to be a parody. Seriously, despite the high school cliches this episode was fun to watch, not just because it kept poking fun at them, but also because of the high production values and its concept that’s completely ridiculous, but a war between classrooms is a somewhat creative way of spending your time in high school. The cliches are definitely there (I’m mostly annoyed by the two lead characters), but I’m glad enough to see that we finally have a high school series that tries something different.
OP: Great animation and a decent song to boot.
ED: Catchy and actually nice art.
Potential: 50%

Durarara!!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a socially awkward teenager and has just moved to a new city.
And here we probably have the most-hyped series of the season, and with the staff behind it I too have been looking forward to it. The result is very promising; while this episode in itself wasn’t exactly awesome, it was great at building up: the dialogue was inspired, the action was short but sweet, the music was really good and the whole city that this episode took place in was detailed and gave off the feeling that it was alive and an actual modern city. I know the director (I’ve seen tons of series from him, and there hasn’t been any series that I didn’t like among them); this guy is terrific at building-up, so I have no doubt that this is going to be a great series, and the question is more going to be like “how good will this end up?”, rather than “will it be good at all?”. Right now, the things that could get in its way are its stereotypical portrayal of punks and foreigners (something that tons of anime suffer from), and how the lead character is surprisingly cliched (see synopsis).
OP: Great music, but the vocal seems a bit of a miscast.
ED: Solid ED, even though it’s a bit too poppy for my tastes.
Potential: 100%

Gag Manga Biyori +

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a famous French painter and has issues.
Okay, so this is actually the first thing I’ve seen from the Gag Manga Biyori franchise. Now that I watched it… I can only describe it as madness. This episode was just crazy in every single way, but I actually liked it a lot. The jokes were… creative to say the least and the dialogue is surprisingly complex for a supposed comedy. It also really helps that it’s got what’s probably the most consistent comedy-director behind it: Akitaro Daichi.
OP: Nice enough opening for a comedy anime. And completely random as well.
ED: Those lyrics… I’m speechless.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick first Impressions: Sora no Oto, Cobra the Animation, Reform Withuot Wasted Draws – The Legend of Koizumi

by psgels, posted in Cobra The Animation, Some Quick First Impressions, Sora no Oto

Sora no Oto

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to learn to play the trumpet.
Haha! Finally a good show this season! I like how this series created its own city with its own culture and customs, which will prove to be very interesting if explored correctly by the rest of this series. The lead character is obviously moe, but likable, and definitely not among the stereotypes that give moe a bad name: she has a potentially interesting background, she’s got a goal that’s she’s willing to work hard for. If the creators write the rest of the series right then we could have a potential gem here. I also love the soundtrack (French lyrics! With an actual French guy singing them!). It’s not without its problems, though. It’s a bit cheesy at times, and that legend that tells about the five girls… it’s a shame that shows are still relying on such an overused plot device. Still, this should be relatively minor if the rest of the series gets developed properly, and doesn’t get stuck inside pool, beach and hot spring episodes.
OP: Great! Gentle and upbeat, a contender for the best OP of the season.
ED: This one’s obnoxious J-rock, though.
Potential: 70%

Cobra the Animation

Short Synopsis: Our lead character kicks ass and gets lots of women.
So after two OVAs, Cobra finally got his own remake TV-show. I didn’t really like the OVAs, but thankfully the story in this episode was much better built up than that of the OVAs. Here you can really see that it made use of its extra time now. I also admit that the soundtrack is very nice and great for building up tensions. This episode was far from perfect, though. It’s pretty silly, but for a show that seems to be geared at entertainment, the animation is pretty bad, and the villains are just nonsensical (Haha! I have a hostage! Now let me release her and flee like a coward!). The action-scenes don’t make any sense and are poorly built up, and if the rest of the series is like this then I feel like it’s not going to work.
Edit: I just noticed that Osamu Dezaki is doing the screenplay and storyboard. What happened to him,? He could have made the visuals far more interesting to watch with this limited budget.
OP: Terrible lyrics, but pretty good sound.
ED: Decent enough ballad.
Potential: 30%

Reform Withuot Wasted Draws – The Legend of Koizumi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the former president of Japan.
Ah, yeah. The only thing I had read about The Legend of Koizumi was that it was supposed to be a political Mahjong series. I had no idea how the creators would plan to do that, but it sounded interesting at least. Well, so it turns out to b ea parody: the show grabs various world leaders and makes them play Mahjong in an over the top fashion (with Koizumi obviously playing the Schwarzenegger-inspired lead character). It was funny, and I laughed, but the direction is outright terrible. It establishes nothing, it pulls all sorts of random plot twists out of its ass, the Japanese are portrayed as regular anime action heroes, while the rest of the Asians are a bunch of stereotypical fascist pigs. It overplays the incredibly overreacting facial expressions. I can’t see this one remaining funny for long.
Potential: 20%